News

09 May

Thornton Steward Reservoir

Both members and day ticket anglers are having very good days out at the reservoir with the current weekly rod average standing at 4.19. Some notable catches are Paul Farnell 20 fish, all returned, David Hild 11 fish, 10 returned and David offers his thanks to head bailiff Dave Cave for his success, Andy Bell with 10 fish, again all returned, committee member Jerry Macbeth 9 fish, all returned, Paul Moore 9 fish, all returned, Ian Cruttenden 12 fish, 10 returned and Stephen Masters 10 fish with 8 returned. A superb 6.5lb brown trout was caught and safely returned. The brown trout that we had to stock into the reservoir two years ago due to the problems with Cragside and the Rover Red being in spate are really putting on weight as the biggest  stocked were between 2.5 and 3lb. Blue trout are also starting to show and are being caught regularly.

We have been concerned with the low level of the reservoir over the last two weeks and the problem has been identified as a broken outlet pipe which Yorkshire Water have now repaired. It is expected that at the rate they will fill the reservoir it should be back to summer level within the next two weeks.

River Till

Our local expert Mick Moffat had a lovely 6lb salmon to fly on 3rd May. Suffice to say that Mick only confirmed that it was caught on a home made fly but what type is his to keep to himself, but I bet it had some black in it knowing Mick so I will hazard a guess that it was a stoats tail variant.

Fish Counters

According to the Environmental Agency records no fish appear to have taken the counters on both the Wear and the Coquet. We know they have been updating/repairing the south fish pass on the Coquet so we have to take it that no fish have gone through the north pass. Somehow I do not think so.

River Wear

We have just about completed negotiations for a small stretch of some 300 yards on the Wear above Durham city. Though a small beat his is a stretch that we believe has never been fished by any other angling club so we are proud that we have been able to come to an agreement with the owner to allow us this fishing. Due to the small size of the beat it is expected that a two rod limit will be placed on the beat. We hope to inform members of the details in a newsletter within the next couple of weeks.

17 April

Working Party. Many thanks to the members that attended the working party on 12 April. Though I was unable to attend due to suffering from the working party in August 2007 which is still affecting me I have been advised by other committee members that the amount of work carried out by the 15 members was unbelievable. Some of the members had not visited the Wear stretch before but having seen the potential of the river they intend to fish the stretch this year. The committee fully appreciate the work the members put in and hope they receive their rewards in their fishing this season. It is understood that all members are not able to attend these working parties but when they fish the rivers it is hoped they appreciate the work put in by so few for so many.

Thornton Steward has started to fish now that the Global warming has arrived, someone must be joking in our region, however the fishing has taken off with day ticket visitor Harold Rowland having a good day with twelve fish, and other day tickets and members catching 6, 7 or 8 fish. Two more beautifully over wintered brown trout, both weighing 4.5lbs, were caught and safely returned. Blue trout are also being caught by anglers and current rod average is 3.9 fish.

Rod License, don't forget that you should have renewed your license on 01 April.

08 April

REMINDER - Working Party

A working party has been arranged for the river Wear for Saturday 12 April 2008. Members have been advised of this in the newsletter but we are also posting this information on the website. Please meet at the car park below the sewage works for 10.00a.m. We have a lot of equipment but please bring any of your own that you may feel will be of use. We will bring equipment for a barbeque and members are requested to bring their own food for cooking.

27 March 2008

GYRODACTYLUS SOLARUS (GS) (re-visited)

For members and anglers in general if you have fished abroad lately for salmon, especially in Norway, you are reminded about the dangers of bringing GS into this country. Great care should be taken with cleaning your angling equipment before fishing in the United Kingdom. For full details on how to clean you equipment please read the full article below. (10 May 2007.)

PROTECT YOUR FISHING

Thornton Steward Reservoir

The season has got off to a reasonable start in spite of global warming, freezing temperatures, gale force winds and snow, - still it is only March. Visiting angler Mr Morgan landed a superb 5lb rainbow on 19 March, member Phil Robinson landed a rainbow of 5.5lb on 20 March and member Tom Artley caught and returned a lovely 4lb brown trout on the 19 March.

Rod Licence

Rod licences are due to be renewed from 01 April 2008, please see the link at the top of the page. Where possible we hope that you support your rural post office and renew your licence there. Our agent at Finghall would appreciate your business but like many other rural post office is waiting to hear this week if they will continue to operate.

Website

It is appreciated that a lot of websites can be pretty boring by looking at still photographs that can be deceiving.  We as a club are looking to improve our website by placing video clips of various fishing beats that we offer to the membership and the first video clip can been seen in the Photo Gallery and Video Show. This video shows the bottom of the river Garry beat and shows the river flowing past the fishing lodge and running into Loch Oich.

11 March 2008

The latest figures for the fish counters has been updated with the latest news about the South fish pass on the river Coquet. There are no figures for the Coquet or the Wear so far and the figures for the Tyne are still low.

06 March 2008

Member Aiden Currie has advised he thoroughly enjoyed his two days fishing the river Garry last week. Though he did not catch any fish he was so impressed with the river and the area that he is going back for a further three days in April with fellow member Alan Tait. Aiden stopped in a lodge that he hired for the few days he was there, the lodge being owned by one of the river bailiffs and had pine martins around the lodge every night he was there. The owner of the lodges has advised that he will offer a reduction in the costs for members of the club and a link will be placed on the River Garry fishing web page.  This stretch also offers fishing on Loch Oich for ferrox trout and pike should the river be un-fishable. We only have two rods per day for this beat and it needs to be booked well in advance to avoid disappointment. The following dates are already fully booked, the 24th to the 30th April, dates inclusive.

The committee as always are continually looking for additional fishing for members and we are exploring new areas that we have not tried earlier, fingers crossed.

01 March 2008

The first reported migratory fish of the season have been caught on the river Till on Thursday 28 February. Head Bailiff Dave Cave caught 3 sea trout and 1 salmon between 4lb and 6lb. One sea trout was kept and the other fish were safely returned unharmed to the river.

28 February 2008

Working Party

A working party has been arranged for the river Wear for Saturday 12 April 2008. Members have been advised of this in the newsletter this week but we are also posting this information on the website. Please meet at the car park below the sewage works for 10.00a.m. We have a lot of equipment but please bring any of your own that you may feel will be of use. We will bring equipment for a barbeque and members are requested to bring their own food for cooking.

Membership

We have received a lot of enquiries for membership over the last few weeks and these enquiries are turning into membership of the club. Like most clubs we lose members throughout the close season but this has not been the case for us this year. This has resulted in fewer vacancies this year and we are approaching the point where we anticipate that we will cease to enrol new members within the next few weeks and will refer all other applications onto a waiting list should the applicant require this. As/if vacancies become available throughout the season then we will contact the applicants in the order they applied.

Thornton Steward Reservoir  

The reservoir has been closed to all members for the last week following the large stocking last week. The reservoir will re-open on Saturday 1st March to both members and the general public.

River Garry

Having just secured two rods on this stretch again, we are pleased to have had so many enquiries from members wanting to fish this beat. New member Aiden Currie will be fishing this week and we hope he has some success. The fishing needs to be booked well in advance to avoid disappointment and members wishing to fish the beat should contact Jim Irving.

10 February 2008

We have started the fish count register for the year 2008. The only fish reported to have entered any river so far is the Tyne with one fish being caught  so far on the Bywell section.. The south fish pass on the Coquet is out of action following a lot of debris hitting the pass and damaging the electrodes. Work to repair this will be carried out in the near future. Though no fish have ran the river so far the first fish has been caught on the tidal stretch.

08 February 2008

The club held its 24th Annual general Meeting on 06 February 2008 with a good attendance from the membership.

The members were advised that the club is in a very healthy position in terms of fishing availability, membership and finance. All current waters remain within the club with a new ten year agreement with Yorkshire Water for Thornton Steward Reservoir. We were able to advise the members that we have reached agreement with the owner for the fishing on the River Garry on the west coast of Scotland. This was lost in 2005 due to circumstances out with the control of the committee and we are delighted to have this fishing back in the club.

Other main points were

a) Fees to remain unchanged.

b) Membership has increased but vacancies still exist within the club.

c) Existing committee re-elected.

d) Further stocking to be carried out during the "Dog days" of summer on Thornton Steward. Our normal stocking policy of a minimum size of  2lb fish for the reservoir will continue with larger fish throughout the season but the additional stockings in the summer will be fish weighing between 1.5lb and 1.75lb.

07 January 2008

Members will be sent details of the forthcoming Annual General Meeting within the next week to be held at Birtley Golf Club on Wednesday 06 February 2008 commencing at 8.00pm. Any member wishing to submit any motion for discussion must submit this in writing to the secretary before the end of January. The committee have been very active throughout the close season endeavouring to maintain current waters and trying to locate new waters for the members. As most members will hopefully appreciate, new water is very hard to come by as most, if not all, of the waters on our three main rivers is already secured one way or another. This means looking further a field within what the committee feel is a reasonable travelling distance.

03 December

Seasons End

With the end of the migratory fishing season ending on the Till on 30 November members who have not submitted there catch returns for the season are requested to do so. Early indications show that it has been a relatively poor year for salmon and sea trout catches with no apparent underlying reasons why. Two possible reasons could have been the weather and the number of fish that have run our rivers.

On the weather the spring gave us the warmest and driest on record followed by one of the wettest summers that was followed by a relatively dry autumn with less than half the annual rain fall. None of these have helped the migration of the fish.

On the fish counts, figures from the Environmental Agency show that, the Tyne has recorded 28,963 fish to the end of October in 2007 whilst the same figure for 2006 was 38,729 some 10,000 less fish, down around 25%. The Coquet showed 1,935 less fish, down 29%, whilst the Wear, figures for 2005 as no figures for 2006 available, showed 1781 less fish, down 12%.

Should members wish to continue fishing throughout the winter they have several opportunities to do so. Thornton Steward Reservoir has had its winter stocking of rainbow trout last Saturday and members are requested to observe the catch and return policy with only one fish allowed to be killed. The River Wear offers members two separate opportunities for either grayling fishing or coarse fishing. Grayling up to 2.0lb have been caught whilst the river does hold some record taking barbel.

The committee are now looking towards the AGM that will be held on the first Wednesday in February 2008 and will be looking to see if any further fishing is available on the market for members.

28 October

There was a news story in yesterday's Newcastle Journal regarding Anisakis spp (see below) and salmon in the River Tyne. It was advising against consumption of infected fish - the very young and the elderly seem to be most at risk.

26 October

The lack of rain is resulting in fish catches become harder day by day though rain is forecast in the next day or two which may help the Coquet and the Wear for the remaining last days of the season. The Kielder releases are helping to keep the fish moving on the Tyne. The Wear has produced another salmon for Jerry Macbeth this one weighing in at 15lbs and again a clean silver fish. There are reports of a 27lb and 21lb salmon being caught on the Wear, the larger fish being safely returned, and we believe they have been caught opposite our top stretch. The lack of fresh water is keeping the salmon in the lower stretches and as Jerry has proved they are there to be caught.

19 October

Member Alan Culley reports catching a 12lb salmon on the Eals Pool before moving upstream to High Carriteth where he succeeded in landing a 16lb fish. Returning to the Eals Pool he was into a 25lb (approx) salmon which escaped after some 20 minutes by straightening his hook and away.

Over recent months, there has been a steady increase in the number of anglers applying for Club Membership.The current limit is 150 members and this is rapidly being reached. The Committee are actively reviewing the position and it seems likely that a Waiting List will be introduced shortly. Watch this space!

14 October

Following the warning earlier in the year regarding Gyrodactylus salaris (See below - entry for 10 May) we have recently received information about Anisakis spp. from The Tyne Rivers Trust  The visible symptom is red / bleeding vents in salmonids.   The Trust website gives all the information available at present and can be found on the River Issues page of the website. It includes details and links describing the infection by Anisakis spp. (a nematode worm) and what to do in the event that you catch an infected fish. There is also guidance received from the Food Standards Agency spelling out the dangers of eating infected fish.

One thing that has become clear is that there is only a limited amount of information about what effect the infection may have on fish spawning and survival. We understand that the Environment Agency and CEFAS are looking into the problem. Keep checking our website for further information and if you catch an infected fish please email the Trust

N.B. Other rivers in the UK have yielded infected fish so please be vigilant.

On happier note - our Wear expert  Jerry Macbeth caught a healthy silver 10lb Salmon on a black Flying-C.

30 September

Over 10,000 fish in August through our rivers and at least one salmon has been reported. Member George Sharpless caught a beautiful silver 15lb salmon using a flying C on the Ridings pool on Thursday 27 September. George offers his thanks to the member, name unknown, who assisted him in landing the fish.  George stated that there were other members fishing who also had success. Out on the Tyne the previous week George tempted two sea trout out of the Eals pool.

LIDDELL WATER

Thanks go out to the members and their partners who attended the bank clearing exercise on the 08th September. Some 14 people attended and a lot of areas have been opened up and this has greatly improved the river for flyfishing.

23 September

The Fish Counts page has been updated today. Over 10,000 fish passed through the counters in August but not a single report of any caught during September by one of our members!!

01 September

Members' News -

The first report from the new stretch on Liddell Water came from Jerry Macbeth (Committee). He caught and released two sea-trout on 20 August on a Cascade. May I remind Members that another working party will meet next Saturday 08/09/2007 at 10.30 o'clock. Please be there if you can.

Congratulations to Jamie Patterson (a 13yr. old Junior member) who caught his first Tyne fish from the Eals Pool late in the evening of 24 August. The 5.5lb sea-trout was tempted by size 8 Stoats' Tail.

Northumberland Tourism have taken over the running of the tourist website from the County Council. This has resulted in three changes to entries on the "Links" page.

20 August

M Moffat had a grilse of 6lb from the Till one evening and 3 sea trout the following evening of 8lb, 7lb and 5lb . Two days later, he had a 6lb sea trout from the Coquet.

P Edwards caught and released a 3lb sea trout on the Till.

All fish were caught on a fly - which one I don't know!!

19 August

To make the fish count data more accessible, a new page has been created - Fish Counts

GYRODACTYLUS SALARIS (GS) - 10 May 2007

"Home and Dry"

The GS parasite is a highly contagious bug that has devastated freshwater salmon stocks in a number of countries within Europe.

Countries affected include Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Russia, Norway and Sweden.

The United Kingdom remains officially parasite free and it is essential that we keep our British rivers free from this parasite.

It is capable of surviving for several days in damp and/or wet conditions on our fishing equipment such as waders, lines and bags etc.

If you have fished in any of the above countries then it is essential that you go "Home and Dry". This means that it is important that you take one  of the following measures with your fishing gear.

Dry equipment at a minimum of 20 degrees C for at least 2 days.

Heat for at least 1 hour at temperatures of above 60 degrees C.

Deep freeze for at least one day.

Immerse in a suitable solution for at least ten minutes.

Keep Home and Dry and preserve our fishing.

For information regarding suitable disinfecting solutions download SEERAD or DEFRA leaflets from

http://www.infoscotland.com/gsbug/contact.html or

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/commondata/acrobat/gs_leaflet_690244.pdf

From SEERAD leaflet

(Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department)